Book of African Divination

In the Book of African Divination, Raymond Buckland and Kathleen Binger offer an overview of African spirituality and divinatory practices. They describe the divining bowl and tablets of the Venda of Zimbabwe, the bones used by Zulu practitioners and the Yoruba shell system. The authors explain each system briefly and offer suggestions for adapting them to your own use. The set includes a 80-card deck based on the tikar spider oracle of the Kaka of Cameroon.. This deck is divided into two halves: the odd and even-numbered cards. Cards are paired off so that for each promising odd card, there is a corresponding cautionary even card. The images on each pair highlight the opposite meanings. (See cards 37 and 38 below.) The actual tikar spider system uses marked plum leaves moved by a real West African earth spider. These leaf markings are simulated inside a leaf shape at the top of each card. Two triangles indicate encouraging cards. Buckland is also the creator of the Romani Tarot. Binger is a specialist in African divination.